The Villainess Is My Cute Daughter

Adrian just stared at it. He let out a long, heavy sigh since he honestly wasn’t entirely sure if he actually liked the new title compared to the simple ”Papa” that he had gotten used to over the last year. He moved on to the other things and noticed something else. His mana veins rank had jumped up significantly.

Then his eyes quickly drifted down to the screen below the status screen.

[Main Quest Initiated: Prepare for the Protagonist’s Descent.]

[Time Left: 4 Years.]

[Quest Rewards: None.]

Adrian stared at the number.

’Four Years... Forty Eight Months...’ he thought as he took a deep breath.

He didn’t really care about the lack of rewards. This was already a massive win in his eyes because the timer itself was the ultimate cheat code. Knowing the protagonist’s exact arrival time down to the specific day gave him a massive advantage. He had more than enough time to build up his army, establish trade routes, allies and prepare for the guy to come to this world.

He had a lot of questions, though.

What would he have actually done if the protagonist had just popped out of a random portal tomorrow? What if the guy just stood in front of his mansion gates and started yelling about fighting the demon lord?

He definitely didn’t want to deal with that kind of unexpected headache right now.

Adrian dismissed all of the screens and turned his head to look out the small carriage window.

’Four years.’ Adrian thought.

If the protagonist was scheduled to land here in four years, then the Demon Lord should probably be making a major move around the exact same time. It made zero sense for a hero to show up without a bad guy to actually fight.

But he shook his head.

’Wait. No.’ Adrian corrected himself quickly. ’This novel’s lore is incredibly weird.’

The magical summonings didn’t actually require a demon lord to be active. Anyone in this world could summon a hero as long as they had the resources, a massive amount of energy, and the method to actually get it to work. The Avarice Kingdom had done it and Adrian knew that Wang Lei was summoned using a similar method.

Which meant some greedy noble or stupid king might just summon the protagonist without the demon lord even being a real threat yet.

Adrian felt his throat getting dry as he thought about all this, so he used dungeon link and a cold glass of clean water instantly materialized right in his hand. He brought the glass to his lips and drank the entire thing. Once done, he sent the empty glass straight back into his storage.

’The Demon Lord.’ Adrian thought as he slowly rubbed his chin. ’In the original novel timeline, he needed at least five more years to actually become a threat. But he did everything in secret for a really long time.’

He scowled.

’But that was just how the author portrayed it.’ Adrian reminded himself. ’The author wrote Aria as a bloodthirsty, mindless villainess. But she isn’t. She was just a girl who was forced into horrible circumstances. All she did was try to survive, and she became the last person the protagonist had to take down.’

He stared right down at the wooden carriage’s floor.

’Maybe the Demon Lord wasn’t given the right portrayal either. Maybe I only saw the entire story from a biased perspective. The exact perspective the author wanted the readers to see.’

He went deep into his own thoughts until Aria noticed his serious expression. She was sitting next to him on the cushion, and she slowly leaned her head against his shoulder.

The touch snapped Adrian right back to reality. He looked down at his daughter with a soft chuckle and looped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close against his side.

He pulled the system screen back up. He had missed a tiny detail on his status sheet because he got distracted by the main quest. He looked at the title that specifically replaced ”Papa.”

Aria’s Shield.

Adrian clicked right on the title mentally.

[Status Bonus: Aria’s Shield.]

[When actively fighting to protect Aria, the host receives a flat 10 percent buff to all physical and magical stats.]

[Aria receives a temporary, high-level hyper-focus passive ability during combat.]

Adrian just studied the text.

’Okay.’ Adrian thought. ’It is not a massive, game-breaking buff. But ten percent in a fight can be the difference between keeping your head and losing it. It is pretty damn good.’

He swiped the screen away for the very last time. He looked down at Aria and then looked across the carriage at Serena and Claire. The two of them were just quietly watching nature outside.

”Hey.” Adrian said. ”Why don’t we cook something together tonight when we stop the carriage?”

Aria’s head snapped right up. She immediately perked up and gave a firm nod.

Serena and Claire turned their heads, small smiles breaking right across their faces.

”It has been a really long time since I have eaten anything you cooked, Lord Adrian.” Claire admitted, her voice soft.

Adrian just smirked and shook his head.

”I won’t be the one doing the cooking.” Adrian told her. ”It is actually going to be the three of you.”

All three of them just blinked.

”I will just be helping Aria to make sure she doesn’t hurt herself.” Adrian explained. ”But you three are going to cook totally separate dishes, and you are going to compete against each other. Let’s see which one of you is actually the better chef.”

They all looked at each other and Aria puffed her chest out confidently.

”I will win.” Aria declared flatly.

Adrian chuckled and looked right at the other two.

”What about you two?” Adrian teased. ”Aren’t you confident?”

Serena gave him a very weak, wry smile. She looked down at her lap and her face started turning a little red.

”Well, Lord Adrian.” Serena mumbled, looking highly embarrassed. ”I have never cooked a single thing in my entire life. In my father’s house, the servants handled everything. I don’t even know how to properly cut a vegetable, so I do not think I can win this.”